Diabetes therapy devices form a basis for therapy of Diabetes Mellitus. In particular, miniaturized insulin pumps are used in the CSII (Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion) therapy. Such an insulin pump is disclosed, for example, in WO 2003053498 A2, to which reference is made for the general design and features of insulin pumps.
Besides insulin pumps, syringes or pen-like injection devices may also be used as diabetes therapy devices for the self-administration of insulin. Other diabetes therapy devices are diabetes management devices. These look similar to a cell phone or a Personal Digital Assistant and may be used for calculating insulin amounts and for diary-keeping purposes.
In comparison to alternative therapy forms with one or multiple daily insulin injections, CSII therapy is generally superior with respect to the resulting therapy quality. This is mainly caused by the fact that in CSII therapy, an insulin pump administers a so-called “basal” insulin rate autonomously in a quasi-continuous way night and day, thus meeting the diabetic's time-of-day dependent basal insulin demand. The basal insulin demand is the diabetic's insulin demand for maintaining the body metabolism according to a generally circadian chronobiological cycle, independent of food intake. The required basal infusion rate according to the circadian basal insulin demand as well as other parameters that may be stored in the parameter profile are inherent for a specific diabetic, and are generally independent of the occurrence of further therapy-related events, such as food-intake. Those other parameters may show some long-term variation and may require modification from time to time, typically every few years, or at a general change of the diabetics overall daily routines and lifestyle.
In addition to the basal insulin demand, bolus insulin is required by a diabetic to compensate for carbohydrate intake and other exceptional conditions. These additional insulin boli can be infused by an insulin pump on demand.
Therefore, devices that store an adjustable infusion rate profile as a function of the time of day may result in therapy quality that is not satisfying in some cases, resulting in long-term complications as well as potentially dangerous short-term excursions of the diabetic's blood glucose level. Particularly, such devices may not be suitable for diabetics who have a variable personal lifestyle and variations in their daily routine.